你有沒有嘗過自己的舌頭？

你有沒有嘗過自己的舌頭？

這個問題聽上去似乎很荒謬，但也并不是毫無道理。在13世紀(jì)時，印度的神秘主義者Dnyaneshwar甚至用這一問題來思考存在的本質(zhì)。我們都知道，正如耳朵、眼睛、鼻子和皮膚等器官一樣，舌頭也是我們體驗這個世界的主要工具之一。并且，它已經(jīng)形成了自己固定的工作模式。

The same riddle is frequently applied to the eye, though we can certainly see our own eyes in reflection. We can feel our own skin, though certainly the tip of your left index finger can't touch itself. The ear certainly can't hear itself, but neither does it make a sound. The tongue, however, lurks in our mouth like a laired beast, flip-flopping its way through our daily conversation, tasting our food and occasionally dislodging a little of it from our teeth.

雖然我們可以在鏡子里看到自己的眼睛，但同樣的疑問也常被用在眼睛上。盡管你的左手食指不能觸摸到它自己，但我們至少能通過其它方式感受自己的皮膚。還有我們的耳朵雖然也聽不到它自己的聲音，但這是因為它自己并不會發(fā)聲。但舌頭不一樣，它就像一頭奇怪的野獸一樣潛伏在我們的嘴里，它不僅在我們談話時翻轉(zhuǎn)移動，還品嘗著我們?nèi)M(jìn)嘴的各種食物。

Perhaps we're more inclined to ponder the mystery of the tongue due to its hidden nature or the many lingering myths regarding its functionality. Tongue rolling, for instance, is not the simple genetic trait that we often chalk it up to be. Nor is the tongue our strongest muscle (and while we're at it, it's a collection of muscles). Neither is the tongue laid out like a simple map, with different zones for sweet, salty, sour and bitter. One of the biggest misconceptions about the tongue, however, is that it rules alone in its governance of flavor sensations.

也許我們之所以更傾向于考慮舌頭的神秘性，可能是因為我們對舌頭有些一些誤解。例如，卷舌并不只是我們所認(rèn)為的簡單遺傳特征。舌頭也不并是我們最強(qiáng)壯的肌肉，而是一團(tuán)肌肉的集合。還有，舌頭并不像一張簡單的地圖那樣，被劃為不同的甜、咸、酸和苦區(qū)。不過，要說人們對舌頭最大的誤解，那就是舌頭獨(dú)自負(fù)責(zé)味覺系統(tǒng)。

The receptor cells in our taste buds certainly carry out the chemical sensation of taste, but they're located on the bumpy external surface of our tongue. They're not able to turn those powers inward on themselves. They collect tactile and thermal details about any morsel that enters their domain. But the brain also depends upon your sense of smell to interpret flavor, so the tongue isn't alone in its taste mission.

我們味蕾中的受體細(xì)胞確實負(fù)責(zé)味覺的化學(xué)部分，但這些部分僅僅停留在舌頭那凹凸不平的外表面。這些受體細(xì)胞無法讓你“感同身受”，它們只負(fù)責(zé)收集任何進(jìn)入它們領(lǐng)域的食物所帶來的觸覺和熱量細(xì)節(jié)。最終，大腦還要依賴你的嗅覺來“解釋”味道。因此，舌頭并不是一個人在為味覺系統(tǒng)負(fù)責(zé)。

Your tongue certainly can taste food or the remnants of food in your mouth. Accidentally bite your tongue, and you can taste the blood trickling out of its own wound. (Fun fact: All that saliva and those blood vessels in your mouth seem to allow for quick healing.) You can also taste your own saliva, and who hasn't had a bad taste in their mouth, whether from some aggressive garlic or an underlying medical condition? And yes, lovebirds, you can pick up on all these sensations during an open-mouth kiss, but you'll still find yourself at pains to taste an actual living tongue.

當(dāng)然了，你的舌頭確實可以嘗到嘴巴里的食物或者食物殘渣。如果你不小心咬破舌頭，你還能嘗到傷口流出的血液。同時，你也可以嘗到自己的唾液，不管是略帶侵略的大蒜味還是病理性的奇怪味道。而且當(dāng)你舌吻時，你會發(fā)現(xiàn)自己真的嘗到了對方活生生的舌頭。但是，你就是沒辦法嘗到自己的舌頭。

Psychologists also talk about the concept of habituation, or the idea that if a stimulus is presented often enough or long enough we learn to ignore it, like the scent you spritz on before you leave the house that everyone but you can still smell later on in the day. The inability to taste our tongues could be an example of that phenomenon, but tongue experts were strangely silent when we reached out for answers.

為了問答這個問題，心理學(xué)家提到了習(xí)慣性。也就是說，如果一個刺激作用在我們身上的時間足夠長，我們就會學(xué)會忽略它。就像你在出門前噴的香水，你只在剛噴的時候能聞到。之后你便聞不到了，但是你身邊的每個人卻都能聞到，我們無法品嘗自己的舌頭可能就和這種現(xiàn)象一樣。